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New Sun — Live at the Back of a Cavern
(Blue Seven Music no#, 1996, MC)

by Jeff Melton, Published 1997-05-01

Live at the Back of a Cavern Cover art

This simple cassette recording is an accurate live representation of a tight five-piece unit from the San Francisco Bay Area playing at the Cactus Club last year in July. Stretching out in a darkened small-club environment gives a far better view of what New Sun can do outside the confines of the studio. Previous album tracks "Glass," "Then and Now," and "Indecisions" benefit from an open-air treatment where the traps and low end simply shine. Together, steam-engine bassist Alex Kley and locomotive drummer Chris Trujillo manage to establish a great rhythmic foothold as well as propel the lead instruments forward into interlocking and shimmering guitar phrases. The band appears to be taking bigger strides by fleshing out compositions into a more aggressive beast as exhibited on spacey leads on "Glass." Doug Erickson's and Chris Scott's guitar styles interconnect and then separate between leads and arpeggios with more clarity and control. New track "Prometheus" shows the band's evolution in group cohesion within a simple but compelling song structure. Unfortunately, the group still could benefit from a stronger vocalist (this is the weak link), but it's much less prominent in a live setting. Sadly, this band is no longer a regular gigging unit, but additional projects appear to be imminent for the two lead guitarists. With this account of past accomplishment, hopefully New Sun will be able to pick up where they left off for future endeavors.

Filed under: New releases, Issue 12, 1996 releases

Related artist(s): New Sun

 

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